Enhancing Sustainability in Project Management: The Role of Stakeholder Engagement and Knowledge Management in Virtual Team Environments

This research investigated the crucial correlation between stakeholder engagement and knowledge management, and their role in enhancing sustainability in project management, with a specific focus on the virtual environment. With the shift towards virtual solutions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the rise of remote work, it has become increasingly important to understand how these constructs interact in this new context. Through a web-based survey questionnaire and Structural Equation Modeling analysis, we found that both stakeholder engagement and knowledge management have a significant positive effect on sustainability practices in project management. Even more interestingly, these relationships remain consistent regardless of whether the project is conducted in a virtual or traditional environment. These findings have important implications for organizations across industries, as they can use these insights to improve sustainability practices in project management by focusing on the integration of stakeholder engagement and knowledge management in the virtual or presential environment. This study is the first of its kind to quantitatively investigate this connection, making it a valuable contribution to the field.

Impact of Antibiotic Prophylaxis Prior to Treatment with Steroids and Tocilizumab in COVID-19 Patients

Background. The incidence of bacterial or fungal coinfections in COVID-19 patients is low. The incidence of nosocomial superinfections is higher, especially related to ICU admission. Treating COVID-19 with steroids plus tocilizumab (TCZ) has been associated with superinfections. Therefore, the use of antibiotic prophylaxis prior to infusion of TCZ could be considered to reduce the risk of life-threatening superinfections in critically ill patients. Methods. Retrospective, single center cohort study. COVID-19 patients older than 14 years, admitted to Hospital Central de la Defensa (Madrid, Spain) from Mar 5th to Nov 24th, 2020 with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were included. Local protocols suggested antimicrobial prophylaxis before the infusion of TCZ. Medical records, treatments received, and microbiological data of all patients who received TCZ were reviewed. Microbiological isolates were considered in the 14 days following the administration of TCZ. Two ID specialists independently reviewed the medical record and decided to qualify the isolate as superinfection or colonization. Results. 2,069 patient records were analyzed. 70 patients received TCZ;all of them were admitted to ID wards and under steroid treatment. 45 (64,5%) patients received antibiotic prophylaxis. The preferred antibiotics were ceftriaxone (N = 18) and ceftobiprole (N = 14). No significant differences were found in age, Charlson index or COVID-19 SEIMC-Score. 24 isolates were detected in 14 patients (18 bacterial, 6 fungal). 17 isolates were considered superinfections;the most frequent isolates were C. albicans (N=5), E. faecalis (N=3) and S. epidermidis (N=2). There were no statistically significant differences between the different prophylaxis strategies in terms of in-hospital mortality or ICU admission. However, patients who received ceftobiprole tended to have fewer isolates and fewer superinfections than those receiving ceftriaxone (ceftobiprole group: 2 isolates in 1 patient, 1 (7,1%) patient with superinfection;ceftriaxone 11 isolates in 5 patients, 4 (22,2%) patients with superinfection) (p= 0,35, Fisher exact test). Conclusion. Antibiotic prophylaxis prior to infusion of TCZ in patients with COVID-19 and receiving steroids could determine the profile of bacterial and fungal superinfections.

Financialization and Consumerism: Multipolarisms and the Covid-19 Crisis

This work posits that under the terrible global crisis caused by the Covid-19 health crisis lies an economic-financial crisis, stemming from a continuum of multiple financial speculative practices in an asymmetrical multipolar environment and a driving force of global and local inequalities. Two important factors reviewed here are the financialization and consumerism whose causal environment has been influenced and intertwined with local and international governance and governability patterns fostered by the interests and hegemony of transnational and multinational enterprises (TM). Methodologically, we propose research that sheds light on these companies, as well as on multipolarity, governance and governability. The evidence analyzed confirms that underlying the health crisis lies a structural economic and financial crisis whose imbalances and abuses deepen the Covid-19 crisis.

Learning to teach in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: our experience at Universidad de Buenos Aires

The aim of this text, is to describe our teaching role in times of pandemic, recounting how we discovered strategies to teach in times of virtual presence, as well as the search for new experiences in teacher training, highlighting the importance of how we turn them into an opportunity for our self-improvement. Procedure: We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses that we found while we were going through this new path of online teaching, set up for the first time in the undergraduate courses of our University. Conclusion: The main educational accomplishments we achieved during the pandemic course were, to establish a true flipped classroom, and to use ludic strategies that were not common in our classes. On the other hand, we highlight the close contact we fulfilled with our students, which led them to recognize with high opinion our study methodology, the knowledge acquired, the strategies used, and our commitment and teaching predisposition.

Social isolation relaxation and the effective reproduction number (Rt) of COVID-19 in twelve Brazilian cities

We analyzed the social isolation relaxation strategies adopted by the twelve biggest Brazilian cities in 2020, in relation to the number of cases, number of deaths and the effective reproduction number (Rt), which are internationally considered the fundamental epidemiological criteria for allowing wider population mobility in public spaces. The Brazilian central government has not set unique guidelines neither for closure nor for opening, and states and cities have taken the lead in strategy definition. Until July 31 2020, in Belem do Para, Fortaleza, Manaus, Recife and Rio de Janeiro, where the epidemic peak had already been surpassed, and in Salvador and Sao Paulo, in which the peak seemed to be already reached, the Rt curve followed a decreasing path after the openings. Porto Alegre, a city in which the epidemic curve was flattened, had an increase in Rt after the start of relaxation. In Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Curitiba and Goiania, where the curve was also flattened, the Rt remained stable after the opening. The decision on how to operationalize the relaxation of social isolation and the speed with which it happened was heterogeneous among the cities studied. Also, broad population testing strategies were not done in any of the cities.